Handful Giveaway + January Review

Have you seen the new Handful video? Yes, Handful, as in "all you need is a handful" :)

Yes it is a little lengthy, but give it a chance! It's a fun video created by the founders of Handful... if nothing else it will inspire you to go out and live your life to the fullest!

Would you like a chance to win three Handful Bras?  Here's how to enter the contest...

1.) Watch the video. Go to Handful's facebook page and let them know that I referred you to their video.

2.) Tweet this: "Enter the @HandfulBra Giveaway that @wealthshealth told me about! Watch this video to learn more about Handful at www.handful.com"

3.) Or you can blog about it and let me know!

Each of the three items will get you entered into the contest!  Just be sure to use the @ signs so they post on mine and Handfuls social network pages, that's how we'll know you did it!

Thanks and good luck!

January In Review
Take a look at some of the great things happening over here in January...

2012 Goals

Running Partner!

January Grub Club

Dad's Surprise 60th Birthday Party

Recipes: Ham & Cheese Frittata, Roasted Spiced Pecans, Chinese Shrimp Pizza, Super Bowl Party Recipes

My mantra "Choice Not Chance"

Calorie Crusher workouts #1, #2, #3

January Foodie Pen Pal

Kelly's Kreations + Workout

Yesterday, instead of going to the gym to get a second lift in, I decided to go to the Coffee Grounds and sip some coffee and read this book I've been at for a while.  By the way if you've considered reading this book, I would do it now!  It is really a great book, Kara shares a ton of tips on running, nutrition, motivation, etc.  

A few weeks ago I learned of Kelly's Kreations, through a friend on Facebook.  Kelly makes a variety of winter hats and after seeing them I of course had to get a couple!  If you're interested in a hat after checking her FB site out, shoot her an email!

I opted for the butterfly....

And the ever-so-fashionable head band styles!

Don't mind the fact that I took these pictures five minutes after I got up this morning, sorry for looking rough.  

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This afternoon I'll be doing the "Wednesday" leg workout from yesterday and I'll be working out my triceps with this workout...

Lying triceps push ups

  (lay on your side and push your body up off the ground with your top arm)

SB bridge pullover

Vasa (1:00)

Triceps kickback 

TRX side plank (:45 each side)

Again each is done 3 x 8, unless otherwise specified.  

See Ya Later November
Another month just flew by! I seriously don't know how this year has been going by so quickly!  Here is a quick look back at what happened in November...

Fitness Challenges (#3 = Fail)
Grub Club = Great Recipes
Newton Running Shoes!
No Snow November
DIY Gift Idea
Winter Running Tips
Versatile Blogger Award
Turkey Trot
Great workout 1, 2, and 3

Now I just need to get my booty up off the couch to get some cardio in!  Wish me luck!

October in Review + Halloween Light Show

I noticed that I have a few new followers... WELCOME! It's actually quite perfect timing for you to stop by because it's time to review October!  Here's a quick look at what happened here at Wealth is Health last month...

Killer workout 1, 2, and 3

Delicious eats: pumpkin spice dip, chocolate chip pan cookies, chewy pumpkin spice cookies, and spaghetti squash lasagna 

Ran a half marathon (unofficially)

 Apple orchard/pumpkin patch adventures

Joined Motivate Me Monday

Ran my first 10 mile race... by the way I got my official results!
Chip Time = 1:31:47  
Gun Time = 1:32:01
Overall Placing = 87/130
Age Bracket (20-29 years old) = 7/9

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I of course had to go and see my niece and nephew in their costumes...best looking prince and princess I've ever seen!

And now for your viewing pleasure...

I heard about this house on the news, so my family and I decided we had to go check it out.  This family spent hours synchronizing their lights to the music.  They had three songs that they used and the music was played on a separate radio station... I can't even begin to imagine how they did this whole production!

Hope your All Saints Day isn't a drag from all that Halloween candy last night ;)

September in Review

WOW! Really?!  September is over!  Yikes, time has really been flying these last few months!  Here is a little Wealth is Health September recap :)

I'm CSCS Certified (Part 1, Part 2)
Football Season Returns
Favorite September recipes: Enchiladas and Chicken Pot Pie
Modeling Debut (PS still waiting for more pictures)
My Big 2-5


Around 9 this morning I headed out for a 10 mile run, longest of my half marathon training to date, however, 10 turned into 9 when my knee started hurting a little and my legs started stiffening up.  Right around the 6.5 mile mark my knee started hurting just a hair, so I took a couple walk breaks from mile 6.5 to the end (you can tell by my splits).  I'm not a huge fan of taking walking breaks during my runs, but if I need them I need them.  Today I maybe took one or two that I didn't actually need, but I am pretty good about making my breaks very short, aka 1 block tops.  I tried to run in places around town where I knew I would run into hills to help train myself for the hilly half coming up in a couple weeks.

I have cut most of my long runs by a mile of two compared to what is on my training plan, but I'm not too worried about that because for my first marathon my longest run before the race was only 8 miles and I only did that once.  I have run a lot more longer runs during this training plan compared to last time I trained.

GARMIN STATS

Distance: 9.30 miles

Total Time: 1:29:56

Calories: 1169

Before I ran out the door today I threw on both my Garmin and my Nike+ so that I could compare the two. Turns out my Garmin is a little on the faster side and my Nike+ is a little on the slower side. To be honest, not sure which one was closer to the real deal, I ran a lot on the trails and those don't show up very well on the mapmyrun.com.

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Every year this week is a big week for my family...

Sept. 29 --> My birthday

Sept. 30 --> My brother's birthday

Oct. 1 --> Parents' anniversary

Oct. 2 --> Uncle's birthday (he passed away about five years ago, but it added to the craziness)

Happy anniversary Mom & Dad!

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Off to enjoy an exciting weekend in Wisconsin sports.... Brewers tournament game (win!), Badgers vs. Nebraska, and Packers vs. Denver

Where Did You Go July?!

Holy moly!  It's August already! Where did June and July go?!  Well I suppose since a new month is upon us that means it's time for a little monthly recap...

Challenged myself with Mission: Simply Water
Had my first giveaway
Started my internship
Started working part time at the YMCA
Made hot pockets,
Moved in with my boyfriend and learned some lessons 

Fitness Plan
Monday: 3.5 mile run
Tuesday: Lift, 20 cardio
Wednesday: 5 mile run
Thursday: Lift, 20 min cardio
Friday: Lift, 25 min cardio
Saturday: 6 mile run
Sunday: Off

Weekend in Rewind
I missed my Saturday lift due to my trip to La Crosse to see my best friend who has been living in Indiana and will soon be moving to New Hampshire for graduate school.... boo NH!  Just kidding, she is really looking forward to it, I'm just not.

Anyway my friend CS and I spent most of Friday afternoon sipping on cocktails waiting for JC to get into town.

Happy hour

Hazelnut Tiramisu & Key Lime Pie 

After JC finally arrived into town, things got started!  We really didn't have a whole lot to drink, but I suppose you don't need to when you get drinks this size...

The three of us shared this drink, called a Snookie (some call it a beergarita) featuring tequila and two bottles of Corona, and a fish bowl (not pictured). We didn't even make a dent in the Snookie since it came second to the fish bowl.  Fun stuff :)

The next morning we woke up and went on a walk to get some coffee, only to find that the street across from where I used to live was on fire!  It started in one of the buildings and spread to the other connecting buildings, taking a warehouse, 6 apartments and an optometry shop.

2 roads blocked off

A look down the smokey alley

Street's starting to flood from all the water used

Rescue efforts

Thankfully no one was hurt, however, the cause of the fire is still under investigation.  A number of people have lost their businesses, jobs and homes from this fire.  Keep them in your prayers!

Yesterday the bf and I invited my family over for a cook out!  I've been so busy and haven't seen much of my family lately so it was nice to have them over.  We grilled up some brats (beers brats and jalapeno brats) for the adults and hot dogs for the kids.  I made BLT dip and cookies for sides and the family brought watermelon, potato salad and hummus.  

BLT dip

If you're interested in the recipe for the cookies here it is!  Note: these cookies have a cakey texture to them.  

Oatmeal M&M Cookies

Cream together:

1 c butter

1 c plain yogurt

1 c sugar

1 c MoreFiber Stevia Baking Blend (or add an extra cup of sugar if not using this)

2 c brown sugar

Add:

4 eggs

2 tsp vanilla

Mix together:

4 c flour

4 c oatmeal

2 tsp baking powder

2 tsp baking soda

Mix all ingredients together & add one bag of M&Ms.  Bake on an ungreased cookie sheet.  Bake for 15 minutes at 350 degrees. Makes 4 dozen cookies. 

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This morning I got a call from my sister asking if I wanted to go to a movie with her and the kids...and get this, it was 25 cents a person!!!  During the summer the Micon Theater here in town has 25 cent movies on Monday and Tuesday mornings (10 am)!  This morning's feature was the Bee Movie.  I haven't seen this one and I had been wanting to so it was perfect.  If you're into cartoon movies, I would recommend this one.  It is great for kids, but has enough clever things in it to make it entertaining for adults. 

 Source

I asked if she would mind picking me up for the movie and then I would run home from there.  It worked perfectly because my breakfast was fully digested and I got my 3.5 mile run in before it was noon!

Off to work, do laundry and watch baseball later tonight!  Happy Monday!

Mission: Simply Water

June in Review
In case you are new or missed a few post, here are some fun things that happened in June!

Currently hosting a Gotein giveaway!
Ran my first 10K
Tried/bought chia seeds for the first time ever!
Took my dad to a Twins game
Posted recipes for bruschetta, hot Alfredo pasta, spinach artichoke dip
Finished my first complete text book ever
Worked State Track 
Experienced a National Running Day miracle
Started using Stevia

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This is how hot it was out this morning at 7:30 am...

I'm not even going to say, "eww gross', I take pride in that, plus it felt disgustingly good.  This is day 2 of sweating profusely during my workout! It's been Mississippi hot lately!  This morning when I left for my run at 7:30 it was 84 degrees already!  Last night at my two basketball games it was 85 degrees outside, Lord only knows what it was inside that gym... 90?! 95?! I don't really know, but it was sticky, slimy, dripping sweat wet!  There's nothing like a little summer basketball.  We won't always play in the gym we played at last night.  The gym we normally play in (has air conditioning) is getting the floors redone.  Next week we should be in the air, hallelujah!  Anyway, over the past two workouts I have lost 4 pounds and I know that was not "fat weight" lost, it was water weight lost.  So today begins Mission: Simply Water.

Recognize that bottle? It's a Simply Orange bottle, perfect for putting water in and storing in the refrigerator so it is ice cold at your beckon call!  One bottle can hold 56 fluid ounces of water... my mission, drink two of these a day!  I am usually pretty good about drinking water pretty frequently and carrying a water bottle everywhere I go, but with the weather finally warming up I need to drink more than I have been.  Anyone else want to take the challenge with me?!  This weekend will be a tough one to focus on getting two of them down since I have a wedding tomorrow and I'm sure the weekend will consist of its fair share of drinking to celebrate the 4th of July weekend.  BUT, I am going to do my best to stick to my challenge.... So far today I am 1 jug in! I guess that's not too hard to do when it's 95 degrees out though!

After doing some work on my project for my summer class, I took a little break and met my girl friend Carrie at Buffalo Wild Wings for lunch and a beer.

I got my usual suspect, the Southwest Queso Chicken Wrap.  It's never even a question when I go there what I am going to get.  It never fails me!  Now it's back at the project.  I am hoping I can finish it or get pretty darn close to being finished before my boyfriend arrives tonight.

The rest of my weekend will look a little something like this..

• Wedding 
• Best friend coming to town from Valpo
• River Fest downtown
• Grilling out with friends for the 4th
• FIREWORKS... one of my favorite things about the 4th :)
• Packing

What are you doing for the 4th?

I hope everyone has a wonderful and safe weekend!  I'm off to break down and turn the AC on, I suppose 95 degrees justifies that right? ;)